ARC Review: The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz

28 Jun 2016

From the internationally celebrated author of the Original Sinners series comes a brand-new tale of betrayal, revenge and a family scandal that bore a 150-year-old mystery

When Cooper McQueen wakes up from a night with a beautiful stranger, it's to discover he's been robbed. The only item stolen—a million-dollar bottle of bourbon. The thief, a mysterious woman named Paris, claims the bottle is rightfully hers. After all, the label itself says it's property of the Maddox family who owned and operated Red Thread Bourbon distillery since the last days of the Civil War until the company went out of business for reasons no one knows… No one except Paris.

In the small hours of a Louisville morning, Paris unspools the lurid tale of Tamara Maddox, heiress to the distillery that became an empire. But the family tree is rooted in tainted soil and has borne rotten fruit. Theirs is a legacy of wealth and power, but also of lies, secrets and sins of omission. The Maddoxes have bourbon in their blood—and blood in their bourbon. Why Paris wants the bottle of Red Thread remains a secret until the truth of her identity is at last revealed, and the century-old vengeance Tamara vowed against her family can finally be completed.

For those who have been following my reviews in the past would know that I've been a HUGE fan of Tiffany Reisz and I can never find the right words to justify her massive talent in writing. The Bourbon Thief is her departure from The Original Sinners series and when I first read the blurb, I was equal parts excited just to read something else from this author.

The read is a story told within a story. It starts off with Cooper McQueen, a man who knows his liquor and keeps his treasured bottles in the comfort of his home. On one fateful night, he found himself seduced by a sultry woman named Paris through their banters on an old tale of a renowned bourbon called Red Thread. Come next morning after a passionate night, he found his precious bottle of aged bourbon missing. All clues point to the mysterious woman he slept with last night.

Instead of Paris making her great escape, she offered Cooper a story in exchange for the bourbon bottle which she claimed is rightfully hers. So it begins, the story of Tamara Maddox that takes place back in the 1970's and the events that led to the downfall of the Red Thread Bourbon.

What I liked about this read is that you still get the amazing TR snark that she always brings to her writings. She doesn't need to do erotica to showcase that and even through this cleverly woven tale, she brought out the smart banters between the characters which I really enjoyed. For the first half of the story, I found myself immersed in Tamara's twisted family history and her relationship with Levi which was taboo in certain ways that made this story even more interesting.

However somewhere after the halfway mark, I found myself dragging through the story. There was a lot of going back and forth between Levi & Tamara and throw in some contrived family drama to complicate things even more. At certain points, it almost felt a little too depressing to even carry on when Tamara got pushed away by Levi over an argument. I couldn't connect with Levi for the most parts and that probably irked me even more as I read through this.

Having said all the above, I still thought the last portion of the book was quite brilliantly written and I wouldn't have expected anything less from TR who has been known to shock her readers at the end. A story of revenge, first love and family feuds that involve a whole lot of bourbon - if you're in the mood of a dark read with a Gothic feel to it, you could very much enjoy this one.

ARC kindly provided by Harlequin via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Tiffany Reisz lives in Portland, Oregon with her boyfriend (a reformed book reviewer) and two cats (one good, one evil). She graduated with a B.A. in English from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky and is making both her parents and her professors proud by writing BDSM erotica under her real name.

When not under arrest, Tiffany enjoys Latin Dance, Latin Men, and Latin Verbs. She dropped out of a conservative southern seminary in order to pursue her dream of becoming a smut peddler. Johnny Depp’s aunt was her fourth grade teacher. Her first full-length novel THE SIREN was inspired by a desire to tie up actor Jason Isaacs (on paper). She hopes someday life will imitate art (in bed).

THE SIREN was awarded the RT Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Erotic Romance 2012.

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